Building a house, how small is too small?

[sengsational]

Serious footings, indeed. You probably don't have the problem I'm working...I have to match the saggy old joists with the new straight ones. $41 at harbor freight for the planer, and just a couple hours. They're looking pretty even now. Apparently you can end-up with a rolling look with the composite if you have high/low joists, much more noticeable than with the stiffer pine or harder deck materials.

[Fermion]

Nice job Seng! It looks like you went with 12" spacing like we did on the back deck...should be good for lower sag if you go with the composite decking which is only 1" thick or so.

I noticed you are not using pressure treated joists. Any concern there? It does look like select grade lumber though.

[NgineER]

Tape the joists with a flashing tape to keep moisture out. With the composite decking the joists tend to crumble first, if you protect them the deck will last a very long time.

[skyking1]

All good stuff, planing, long strait edge, and flashing over wood.

[sengsational]

That wood does look pretty light in color, but it's pressure treated (each board weighed a ton). I had it stacked with spacers, in the shed for a month and it was a little less damp when I was working with it. And yes, generally 12" spacing, but only because the original deck was generally 24. There were a few 16" spaces, which I left. I hope those won't have too much bounce. The manufacturer says 16 is OK.

I put the tape on the rim and up the side of the house, but not sure about spending the time and money on taping each joist. I'm sure it would last longer, but I'm not going to be here forever. The old joists are 25 years old, and in reasonable shape. I need to think more about the joist tape. ETA: If slit to 1.5", it's only $0.07 per LF of membrane, so $30 worth could do it. Cheap now, and will make the world better for someone in the future, I suppose.

I'm putting in mid-span blocking today. My BIL had a deck built and I'm going to his scrap pile, as I only need 10 1/2 inch lengths, mostly. So rather than cut up several $20 boards, I'll go with the free solution. The original deck didn't have blocking, but it's a 12' span, and the composite isn't as stiff, so figure it's needed.

[harley]

Hopefully you'll be able to finish the job a little less expensively now.

Lumber futures fell for an eighth straight day

[Fermion]

It must take awhile for the drop in lumber futures to trickle down as I see Home Depot and others still have the higher prices for 2x material.

They are quick to raise prices when their supplier goes up but slow to drop when their supplier drops the price.

[sengsational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion They are quick to raise prices when their supplier goes up but slow to drop when their supplier drops the price.

Yes, that's for sure. When I see Lowe's and Home Depot have the same price...to the penny... I wonder if it's competition or collusion

[finnski1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion I don't know. I wasn't thinking of anything but a patio might be nice. You think like building a sub "deck" underneath and tying it in lower to the posts? My wife at one point said we might lattice it but a patio might look nicer and be more useful.

How's the house coming? Haven't seen any pics in a while